Browsing: August 22

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on August 22nd.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On August 22, 1485, King Richard III of England died from wounds received in the Battle of Bosworth Field, the last English King to die in battle. On August 22, 1639, the British East India Company founded a city they called Madras in Southern India on the Bay of Bengal on land they bought from local Nayak leaders, a mere three mile…

A Brief History On August 22, 2006, Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman was awarded the Fields Medal for creating the proof of the “Poincaré conjecture,” but then he refused the award, explaining, “I’m not interested in money or fame; I don’t want to be on display like an animal in a zoo.” Digging Deeper Some other people that have refused awards include: Three people have refused their Oscar statuettes, including Dudley Nichols in 1936, George Scott in 1970, and Marlon Brando in 1973. Jean-Paul Sartre turned down the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964, as he previously refused France’s Legion of…

A Brief History On August 22, 1864, the first of 4 treaties governing the conduct of war was signed in Geneva, Switzerland, a pact called “The First Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field.” Digging Deeper The lengthy title tells you what the pact concerned, and the 12 European countries or kingdoms that signed it agreed to humanitarian treatment of the war wounded. Later, 5 more countries signed, including the United States. The civilized world met 3 more times over the next century, establishing far reaching accords on the conduct of…

A Brief History On August 22, 2017, CNN reported on two recent studies that showed how a “bad work environment could be bad for your health.”  Although common sense should tell anyone that it is uncomfortable and unhealthy to work anywhere where you have to put up with obnoxious, petty, bickering, and back stabbing employees, scientific studies are making that observation an academic fact.  Does your boss pick on you?  Are you constantly being threatened with being fired, demoted, or disciplined?  Are you sexually harassed?  Does there seem to be an atmosphere/culture of bias against your race/creed/national origin/gender/lifestyle?  Are your co-workers unfriendly? …

A Brief History On August 22, 1962, the French ultra-nationalist terror group known as the OAS (Organisation armée secrete, which means “Secret Army Organization”) made a famous attempt on the life of Charles de Gaulle, president of France.  The OAS had tried and failed to kill de Gaulle before, but this particular attempt became all the more famous as the inspiration for the 1971 Frederick Forsyth novel, The Day of the Jackal.  The book became enough of a best seller to in turn inspire the 1973 major motion picture by the same name, starring Edward Fox and Michel Lonsdale.  The…